Sir Edmund Hillary dies aged 88

Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, has died aged 88

Well, the first white man, maybe. Did Tenzing Norgay actually arrive on the summit first? That was certainly the impression Tenzing gave to his colleagues at the time, when he explained how he reached out his hand to help Hillary onto the peak, much to the consternation of the New Zealanders. In the end they agreed that the official story would be that they both arrived at the summit together. How jolly decent! And, of course, it's quite possible that Mallory and Irvine beat them to it way back in 1924, but we will never know for certain.

It was such a huge achievement at the time. Nowadays fat, asthmatic accountants attempt to get to the top of Everest and it can't be long before McDonalds opens a branch at base camp, next to the clinic that's also up there, for treating all those alltitude sickness casualties.